Ancestral Lineage

Regnare and his team froze—caught between awe and terror—as the roiling cloud above them twisted into something unholy.

From its churning mass emerged a towering monstrosity, nine feet of primal dread made flesh. Its fur was a pitch-black void that seemed to absorb light. Two deep crimson eyes, slitted and burning like coals in a dying fire, pierced through the haze with an otherworldly malice.

The creature was a grotesque hybrid—part yeti, part gorilla, but far more sinister. Thick cords of muscle rippled beneath its coarse fur, each movement exuding raw, savage power. Its clawed hands, long and jagged, shimmered with dark energy, while glowing blue runes pulsed like veins of frozen fire along its forearms and shoulders.

Two long, spiraled horns jutted from its skull—sharp and obsidian—twisting backward in a nightmarish arc as if forged in some infernal crucible.

It didn't roar. It simply breathed—and that breath, heavy and hot, made the air itself feel wrong.

"Hmm? This is different from the one I used to fight my King... did I evolve unconsciously?" Kaldaroth muttered to himself.

"You... who are you?" Regnare said in a bit of fear as he stared at the monster in front of them. He could feel the dense aura of ice and curse radiating from him. 'He's just like me. A dual affinity holder but way stronger!'

"Me? I'm your examiner," Kaldaroth replied nonchalantly. His sharp gaze passed over all of them, taking them all in. 'They are pretty strong for their age, but it's not enough for what's coming. That person was as strong as me or even more powerful!'

"What the fuck is this gorilla saying?" Kalev shouted, trying to build up courage. This being was way stronger than Tyrant. He was sure of it. Just his mere presence twisted the air and made their blood boil. He couldn't even activate his affinity. 'Damn it! Just who the fuck is this!'

"Manners, kid. I'm no gorilla. I am a Knight of my King. Now, where were we?" Kaldaroth said with a smile, showing off his sharp fangs that sent tremors of fear through them.

He slowly floated to the ground where they stood. His landing caused the place to experience a small earthquake.

"Get ready for your test. But before that, let's make the place more fightable. Watch and learn, Prince," Kaldaroth said as he spread his hands wide. A dark blue sigil formed in his left palm, radiating a dense curse energy.

"This is a curse that changes things to your liking, but add an anti-bad luck curse formation to it, and you get an illusionary domain or a mirror dimension," Kaldaroth said as he combined the sigil with a dark green tablet of runes.

A deep pulse resonated all around, and right in front of them, the place began changing. Just like a simulation, they appeared in an icy world filled with mountains, snow, and pine trees. It was just winter, ice and snow. And the ice was piercingly cold. So cold that the air generated from breathing turned to ice and fell.

"This..." Regnare muttered, taking in the landscape. This was beyond anything he'd ever experienced. It was on a whole different level.

"You like it? This is my home, or was my home, before my King came for me. Now it will be your test ground, especially for you, Prince," Kaldaroth said with a grin.

"How did you know I was royalty?" Regnare asked, reaching for his daggers, but Kaldaroth said only one word.

"Survive." Then he disappeared.

"Behind you," the voice whispered like a blade through silk.

Nyarelle's eyes widened, but her reflexes were sharper. In a heartbeat, a shadow clone formed behind her, intercepting the strike—just as she melted into her own shadow, vanishing from sight.

Kaldaroth's claws tore through the clone like tissue paper, shadows scattering in the air like ash."Nice reaction, elf," he growled, his glowing eyes scanning for her next move. But he didn't linger.

In one fluid motion, he lunged toward the dwarf twins—Darak and Vorr—intent on breaking their formation.Darak slammed his heel into the earth, sending seismic cracks racing toward Kaldaroth like a spiderweb of destruction.Kaldaroth only smirked.With a single leap, he soared high—just as Vorr, using Darak's broad back as a springboard, launched himself into the air to meet him.

"Impressive coordination," Kaldaroth chuckled mid-air, "But still not enough!"And with that, his form vanished in a swirl of black smoke.

Vorr's momentum carried him straight through the fading mist—And that was the trap.

The smoke clung to his skin like rot, seeping into his veins. His muscles locked up mid-flight."Cursed smoke—" was all he could think before gravity reclaimed him.

Darak roared and leapt, arms outstretched to catch his brother—but as the cursed smoke wafted downward, it touched him too. His body froze mid-leap.

Both dwarves crashed into the earth like falling stars, the impact creating a crater that echoed through the battlefield.

Kaldaroth descended calmly, claws gleaming with cursed energy, his tail swaying behind him like a pendulum of death.

"When facing a curse user," he said coldly, "distance is survival. Remember that—when you wake up."

"Now… oh, now you decide to act!" Kaldaroth scoffed as he twisted his body, narrowly avoiding a massive ice spear that hurtled toward his skull.

The spear shrieked past, smashing into the earth with terrifying force—BOOM!—obliterating a stretch of pine trees and carving a scar through a nearby hill.

From the treeline, Regnare surged forward, a blur of motion and fury. His limbs were no longer entirely human—his hands and feet had morphed into vicious claws, razor-sharp and glinting with elemental power. It was a transformation born from blood and legacy—a technique his mother had taught him.

Parts of his body were permanently altered—draconic eyes that shimmered with icy blue, wolf-like ears that twitched with precision, and from his back coiled a hybrid tail, part dragon, part beast. Two blackened-blue horns, curved like scythes, jutted from his head as if daring the heavens to strike him down.

He was a Draconic Wolf—and his fury was divine.

Kaldaroth chuckled, clearly impressed. "Whoa... now that packed a punch." But before he could say more, Regnare was upon him.

"Don't you dare touch my teammates!" Regnare roared, his voice shaking the trees. His fangs lengthened, and a wild mask of fur and scale spread across his face, primal power leaking from every breath.

"Everyone—stay back!" he ordered, a command as sharp as a blade.

"But—" Nyarelle had reappeared beside Yamal, her voice filled with concern.

"It's an order!" Regnare snapped, never breaking stride.

Then, the moment struck.

BANG!

BOOOOOOOOOM!

Their clash unleashed a cataclysm—snow vaporized, ice shattered into nothingness, and the ground beneath them cratered under the sheer weight of their power. For a heartbeat, it was like the world held its breath—before being drowned in the raw force of two monsters colliding

The shockwave rolled out in every direction, cracking the frozen earth and rattling the bones of all who witnessed it.

Regnare snarled, his claws locking with Kaldaroth's. Frost laced their limbs, spreading like veins of death. The air between them crystallized, their breath forming spikes of ice in midair.

Kaldaroth grinned, his twisted horns humming with malevolence. "You're not the only one who inherited something," he whispered, and with a flare of his aura, black markings crawled up his arms, glowing with sickly purple light.

Curse affinity.

"Let's see how long your will holds out against mine."

Regnare pushed off him and flipped backward, landing on all fours, his tail slashing the ground behind him. Frost coiled around his claws, and cursed sigils glowed faintly beneath his fur.

Kaldaroth raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

CRACK!

The sky darkened as icicles rained down, each one humming with corruption. These were no ordinary shards—they were imbued with decay, designed to weaken the target's spiritual essence upon impact.

Regnare charged through them.

Each one that struck him cracked and dissolved into cursed vapor, but his pace never slowed. As he ran, he growled a chant under his breath—draconic, ancient, and binding.

The runes on his tail and shoulders ignited—glowing blue mixed with blackened cursefire.

FWOOM!

He exhaled a stream of icy breath that curved unnaturally mid-air, homing in on Kaldaroth with sentient hunger. Kaldaroth raised an arm and cast a curse veil, absorbing part of the frost—but not all of it.

CRASH!

He was flung back, tumbling through a snow-laden ridge. As he rose, his skin cracked, leaking blue and black mist.

"Fine," Kaldaroth snarled, licking blood from his lips. "Then let's make this personal."

His cursed aura expanded like a heartbeat—pulsing waves of malice distorting the very air. A ghostly black circle formed beneath him, ancient sigils spiraling outward.

Regnare stopped. His eyes narrowed.

"That's a Forbidden Sigil…"

The cursed glyph exploded with jagged spears of ice, each one alive, each one screaming. The ice was possessed—twisting mid-flight, bending unnaturally, aiming not just to wound, but to corrupt.

Regnare ducked low, his claws dragging across the frozen ground. A burst of ice magic surged upward like a geyser, shielding him just in time. He twisted out, launching curse-imbued slashes at the possessed spears, dispelling them mid-air.

Then he vanished.

FLASH!

He reappeared behind Kaldaroth, his tail wreathed in swirling frost and dripping black energy.

"WRAAAAAAGH!"

The strike landed—BOOM!—and Kaldaroth was flung into a glacial boulder, shattering it.

As the dust cleared, Regnare stood tall, his breath heavy, the mist around him turning black and blue, the result of two opposing affinities tearing at his body.

But he didn't care. He couldn't care.

His teammates were watching.

Kaldaroth rose again, laughing.

"Good. Now I know you're worthy of killing."